Tuesday, August 26, 2014

A few months ago I posted on the tragically early death of racehorse breeder Lucy Stack. Her moving letters to her family were reproduced in many papers and in that post, as were the tributes paid to her at the funeral.

The BBC caught up these women this week, naming them 'the world's most unlikely cycling team'. It's a disturbing look at the challenges they face in trying to compete in sport while living in a country which strongly discourages that very thing.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Just 22 now, she won the first Women's Stand Up World Tour last year. Great insight into what makes a champion, especially when asked about the pressure of competing with that title hanging around her neck:

"Imagine, every stop of the tour now, the announcer goes: “And now, the world champion, Nicole Pacelli!” so everybody wants to see whether this world-champion girl really is the real deal. At the first stop of this season in Hawaii, my photo was on the championship’s poster, so I said to myself, “OK, it’s time to bring it.” But then I go into the water and I feel calm. That’s one of my qualities, I feel calm, lay low and do what I have to do. I thought the pressure was going to be an issue this year, but so far it hasn’t affected me. If I started to overthink what I have to do in the water, thinking about how many seconds are left in a heat and such, I probably couldn’t do it anymore."

This is the woman who won 151 races in a row during a five-year winning streak, and that was before she won Commonwealth Games bronze this year.

We know sprinters focus on high intensity, short distances but it was a bit of a shock all the same to read this: "Oh dear, the furthest I've ever run is about a mile – no joke. I don't think I've ever run further than a mile, and even that probably took me about half an hour. I can't run long distances."

Friday, August 1, 2014

The Women's Rugby World Cup starts today in France, with my home team Ireland taking on America this afternoon. I was excited to see some great stories in the newspapers this morning. This one by Gavin Cummiskey is my favourite, closes with some stirring sports-style lines. Writing about the two longest-serving players Fiona Coughlan and Lynn Cantwell he says:

"Here also begins the final campaign for the Thelma and Louise of Irish rugby (although Cantwell has postponed her retirement).

Already they have inspired a generation of female rugby players. Here represents the last stand for the first group to have achieved such hero status.